KUCHING – A student from Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus will represent Malaysia at an international engineering competition in Beijing, China in August.
Peter Ling Ting Rang emerged champion in the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) Present Around The World (PATW) Competition held in Kuala Lumpur recently. He will represent Malaysia in the Asia-Pacific regional finals.
PATW focuses on presentation skills where individual competitors are required to present on a topic related to engineering and technology in front of an audience and a panel of judges for 10 minutes. They are also allocated a further 5 minutes for questions and answers.
Open to members and non-members of IET, engineers and technicians who may be students, recent graduates, apprentices and young professionals aged from 18 to 26 are eligible to take part.
“It was very challenging because I had to compete with students who are pursuing their bachelor’s and master’s degree,” said Ling, a foundation year student at Swinburne Sarawak.
“The Q&A session was the most exciting and interesting part of the competition. My knowledge and critical thinking skills were put to the ultimate test,” said the 18-year-old from Kuching.
He added that he was nervous when presenting in front of the judges who were professionals from various disciplines.
“Overall, it was a pleasant and significant experience. I am pleased, humbled and honored to be the youngest ever winner from Malaysia.”
Ling hopes that his victory will inspire more young university students to participate in the PATW competition.
“Age is never the limiting factor. It is completely true that a foundation student can stand on a par with the others, as long as the will to succeed is crystal clear,” he added.
Ling also said he appreciated the support of his family, friends, lecturers and the university’s IET On-Campus chapter. “The education at Swinburne Sarawak gave me lots of opportunities to fine-tune my presentation skills.”
On the Asia-Pacific finals happening this August, he said: “There will be champions from Australia, Brunei, China, Pakistan, New Zealand and Singapore. No matter what, I will give it my best shot.”
The IET is one of the world’s leading professional societies for the engineering and technology community. It provides a global knowledge network to facilitate the exchange of ideas and promote the positive role of science, engineering and technology.
This is the second time students from Swinburne Sarawak outshone its competitions in PATW Competition. In 2012, Ivan Ling Ting Yang, an electrical and electronics engineering student from Swinburne Sarawak, emerged champion and represented Malaysia in the PATW Asia-Pacific Regional Finals held in Singapore.